Chicago

Yesterday was wonderful. I left Cincinnati still feeling first day high and had only a mere four and a half hour drive!
But let me tell you.
Corn. All the corn. Corn for days. Corn on corn.
In case you were wondering what you’ve missed not driving through middle America, let me tell you. You’ve missed the corn. However… There is a spell in Indiana where these enormous windmills are speckled throughout the field and that’s pretty cool.

I arrived in Chicago super early, and with the one hour time difference I was here at 1pm with the whole afternoon to kill before meeting my friend for dinner. And it was sunny and beautiful!

Goal number one was to run. I had so much energy bottled up from the drive I was just yearning to run around. However parking in any big city, especially one you’ve only known for half an hour, is crazy hard. I finally pulled into a spot by a park and was debating the $12 fee (it contradicts my whole goal to not spend money..) when a kind gentleman came over and handed me his pass- it’s good for the whole day and he was headed out. Way to make someone’s day, sir. From there I ran all along the waterside path. Chicago is unusual in the sense that the beach is RIGHT next to downtown. Not just like how San Francisco, or even Norfolk, has a boardwalk by some water… But there is literally a sandy beach and a park right next to skyscrapers. Either way, it was a beautify day and a beautiful run, and I made sure to pass along the parking pass to another park goer (:

I spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the city and scoping out the University of Illinois Chicago. They have a sweet global health program that’s definitely on my radar. It was a Sunday so I didn’t go in, but I scoped. Eventually I met up with a friend of mine from San Francisco who is an art student out here during the year. It was great to see a familiar SF face and I indulged in some deep dish bc of the YOLO.

I spent the night with some friends of hers that have a great place (w free parking) out in the suburbs some and headed out now!

Yet. Not before my first crappy morning. In addition to my GI tract expressing it’s disapproving opinion of the deep dish pizza last night, I accidentally left during rush hour Monday morning. Whoops. Due to a crack in my windshield I noticed back in Virginia Beach, I had set up a Monday appointment to get it fixed here in Chicago. Which sounded simple.

Oh but it wasn’t. Not only did my gps take me to the exact address that happened to be on another Riverdale Ave on the other side of town (that turned out to be a family home in a quiet neighborhood) but I am pretty sure I went through every single road that is under construction in this entire region. And made every wrong turn a human could make. Upon arriving an hour late, the wonderful lad at the front desk told me he could still take the car, that insurance covered it completely, walked me toward the free coffee, and pointed out the restroom where the aforementioned angry intestines could hang out and process the pizza. Good work autoglass repair guy, you win Best Human if the Day So Far award. So now I’m hanging out, doing some route planning, drinking my free coffee, excited about a new windshield and excited to leave city traffic behind for the corn infinity.